Ix looks at first sight as if Mr. Peel had
bound together two entirely separate studies within the covers of one volume ; but a little reflection shows the logical sequence of his narrative. It is a study of the newer Egypt,--Egypt no longer a fertile riverside with unknown barbarism around, but a self-contained land with a scientific frontier, conscious of the sources of her wealth, and able to command, directly or indirectly, the whole course of her river, and to join hands with civilisation on her southern boundaries. England owes her supremacy in the new Egypt chiefly to her management of the river. The Soudan owes its reconquest and present importance to its command of the upper waters. The keynote of Egypt's policy from the day of Dienes has been taken from what is the primary cause of her existence. A review of modern Egypt is therefore chiefly concerned with irrigation and its attendant problems, more especially a brief review such as Mr. Peel has thought fit to give us. The time has not come for writing the detailed history of a country which, being still in the making, may contain many surprises for the student of politics. Mr. Peel has continued the most brilliant chapter in Lord Milner's book down to the present day, and has given us the first account, outside of official Reports, of the new State in which Britain and Egypt are jointly interested, and which, as he well points out, has a vital bearing on the future of Egypt. The book has one exceptional claim to our attention: it is a record of splendid success. Mr. Peel makes an excel- lent chronicler, clear, sober, judicious, with that touch of enthusiasm and imagination which is necessary to the appreciation of the subject. We can pay his book no higher compliment than to say that it has much of the reasoned optimism and cogent good sense which make Lord Cromer's Reports the best of official papers, together with something of the picturesqueness and sharp observation which made Trooper 8,008 memorable among the literature of the South African War.
The method of basin irrigation has been pursued since time immemorial, but perennial irrigation, irrigation all the year round, dates from the day of that barbarian of genius, Mehemet Ali, the Albanian tobacconist who began the history of modern Egypt. In his fertile brain schemes for both a Barrage and a Reservoir originated; but though the former work was begun under French engineers, the great Viceroy was fonder of grandiose schemes than of the patient labour necessary for their realisation. His grandson Ismail saw the Barrage completed and in use in 1872, and himself set about the irrigation of Upper Egypt by the construction of the Ibrahimiyeh Canal. Ismail was a dreamer of great dreams, as when he directed the engineers to make the Soudan Railway the same gauge as the railways in South Africa, since it would save trouble in the end; but he had no single quality of the prudent administrator, and his extrava- gance brought his country to the verge of financial ruin. The first task which the economic regenerators of Egypt had to face was the extension of the irrigation system, cumbered as it was with relics of their predecessors' blunders. In Lower Egypt the chief crops are cotton and rice, the former requiring constant watering all through the summer, and at the same time being unable to stand the complete inunda- tion which basin irrigation provides. To secure a permanent water-supply was, therefore, the primary aim of the Adminis- tration. Few stories are more romantic than the history of the Delta Barrage, which was condemned by many Commis- sions, and seemed little more than a monument of human folly, when it was taken in hand by Sir Cohn Scott-Moncrieff and Sir W. Willcocks, and at the minimum expense put into working order, till the growing prosperity of the country allowed of its thorough renovation. But the water-supply had not only to be regulated, it had to be increased, and the needs of Upper Egypt had to be considered. The credit of first suggesting the construction of a reservoir seems to belong
• The Binding of the Nile and the New Soudan. By the Hon. Sidney Peel. London : Edward Arnold. 1-12s. 6d. net.]
to Sir Samuel Baker, who made the proposal as early as 1867, Mr. Peel tells in great detail the fascinating story of the construction and completion of the Assouan Reservoir. Egypt at the time was unable to borrow in the open market, and the money was found by private financiers.
It cost, roughly, 22,500,000, and there have been few public works more obviously and directly remunerative. "Reproductive expenditure in Egypt," as Mr. Peel says, "is worthy of its name, and brings its visible and tangible fruit almost without a moment's delay." The Assiout Barrage in the first year of its existence nearly repaid its whole cost in its beneficial effect on the crops, and the Dam in the first summer was able to double the water-supply. We have not space to do more than mention the very graphic account of the inauguration ceremony, and the prudent and convincing generalisations on the meaning and future of British rule in Egypt. Mr. Peel points out, as Lord Cromer has done in his last Report, that the basis of our authority is the prosperity of the country. There are no sentimental or traditional ties between Governors and governed ; but our rule is the only guarantee for material well-being. "With every extension of scientific irrigation the need for European super- vision becomes greater, and since we can allow no Power but ourselves to hold Egypt, European means British"
"If in these reforming days pundits turn their attention to politics, they will find an almost equally insoluble problem in attempting to define the exact nature of British rule in Egypt. To them the question may fairly be left. But while the learned few are labouring through its intricate maze with the most agreeable lack of success, the unlearned many will have their own simple answer. They only know the thing was done ; it matters nothing by what authority. The water came to them regularly in due season, and the wilderness was made to blossom like the rose."
There is another reason for British rule. "All Nileland is one country." With the proposed dam at Lake Albert and
the constant campaign against the sudd, Egyptian interests have far transcended the frontiers of Egypt. The Power which holds the South must continue to be dominant in the North.
The history of the Soudan is analogous with the history of Egypt. The Albanian tobacconist included it in his policy, and when he and his successors had brought things to chaos and made the name of civilisation a laughing-stock, it fell to a few Englishmen to reconstruct it. The story of the recon- struction is not less romantic in one case than in the other. In the Soudan the chapters of war are longer, and the chapter of pacific administration is still a short one. The problem is less complex than the Egyptian, but the work is on a vaster scale, since the land is a million square miles in extent, and the future holds stranger possibilities. So far the work has been a signal testimony to the merits of military administrators working on civilian lines. "I doubt very much," says Mr. Peel, "if any set of civilians could have done so well with a country like the Soudan as the soldiers have. Whatever may be the soldier's faults, what he is told to do, that he will set to work to do, and very likely he will carry it through successfully, however little training he may have had, where a cleverer man might be dismayed by the difficulties."
Slavery has been practically stamped out; a strong, and yet elastic, system of justice has been established; and the foundation has been laid of an admirable educational system, framed on no imported model, but with a clear eye to the needs of the people. At present the Soudan is a poor country, its chief wealth being agricultural, and depending, as in Egypt, on irrigation; but there are good prospects of develop- ment as the land is opened up and means of communication established. It depends for its capital expenditure on Egypt, and such outlays are sound policy for Egypt, for it is only by an expenditure on reproductive works that the land can be made self-sustaining. We would cordially recommend these chapters to all interested in one of the most interesting of Imperial tasks. Mr. Peel's very sensible views on the future of the Soudan Civil Service should be read in conjunction with Lord Cromer's remarks on the subject in his most recent Report.
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